SVR Makeover

Sunday, 04 March 2012

My parking strip, like many others in the neighborhood, has been a disgrace for quite some time. When I moved in (back when this was an affordable working-class neighborhood), it had a bit of scraggly grass and rather a lot of weeds. Thanks to a rigorous one-or-twice-a-year glyphosate spraying program, it's been bare dirt with a few really scraggly weeds for quite some time now.

This morning (being a sunny morning before the end of the rainy season, assuming we actually do get some of the rain that's forecast), it was Off To Home Despot for 12 cubic feet of planting soil to cover up the nasty dry hard dirt that nothing's lived in for a long time. Also, a couple of packets of low-growing, drought-tolerant flowering plant seeds.

Spread the planting soil around; realize that half again as much might have been a good idea, but it's not worth another trip to the store; sprinkle the seeds over the top; check the seed box to see what's sitting around and fits the specs.

Hmmm. Several packets of seeds that fit the description, all packed for 1998. Oh, well: dispose of those seeds by sprinkling them over the parking strip along with the new ones, and hope they haven't mutated into anything that'll eat passing children (the cops can get so unpleasant when that happens). Guess I'd planned on doing this back in '98, or maybe fall of '97, but got sidetracked, or maybe was planning to do something more ambitious involving a rototiller.

Then vast quantities of water, probably to be repeated a few times over the next couple of weeks (Tuesday's rain has already been downgraded to "cloudy and windy"; expect the actual weather to be bone-dry and blazing hot).

Maybe next weekend I'll give the bald patches in my former front lawn the same treatment. Got a little more flexibility in what I plant there, on account of having a sprinkler system (though, given that there does seem to be a drought, I won't be wanting to run the sprinklers very much).

And: is it just me, or is the population of day laborers outside Home Despot turning Anglo? And were things a bit quiet for midmorning on a warm sunny Sunday?

Afterthought: now that the parking strip is covered with nice moisture-retaining planting soil, I should maybe reintroduce angleworms. There's a bait shop next door to Tinga's vet, but then there's also plenty of worm-infested soil out in the back yard. Or I could just wait for them to migrate of their own accord.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

The kitchen faucet that came with the house (and might, for all I know, have been original equipment) had been needing occasional valve core replacement over the years, and the replacement valve cores didn't hold up worth anything, and the gasket meant to keep stray water on the deck from running down the supply hoses was no longer forming anything resembling a seal, and so it was time....

...Past time, actually; I'd bought a moderately-pfancy replacement back in the summer of '05....

...to replace the thing. Which process led me to remember just why the shiny replacement had been sitting in its box these past half-dozen years or so.

I had the parts: a nice new pair of supply lines with the correct fittings. I had the tools: the usual household stuff, plus one of those funny wrenches for loosening the nuts that lurk up there at the top, behind the sink. I had the time, sort of: the morning wasn't positively committed, though I'd kind of planned to do a spot of machining, and maybe visit the TechShop San Jose grand opening thingie (which I might yet do), and there are a couple of tests I ought to run on the latest toaster controller, but those can wait until afternoon, not being temperature-sensitive.

This leaves only the question of ability. I don't fit in small spaces, nor am I particularly flexible. I got Joy to do some of the more esoteric under-the-sink yoga poses, but she doesn't have real strong hands. Some of the corroded-nut-loosenery involved applying large amounts of torque to inaccessible and unseen parts, and neither of us is good at using force, and using the Force, at the same time.

Eventually the old decrepit faucet was loose, except for the sprayer, which really didn't want to unscrew (so I applied the Alexandrine solution). I'll worry about removing the sprayer's holder, and replacing it with a shiny goof plug, another day.

Installing the new one was somewhat less painful, and it looks all nice and shiny and works properly... though, with the plastic nuts as tight as I could get them, the base doesn't seem quite tight. Kinda like there was supposed to be another layer of gasket, which maybe I misplaced when I first unpacked the box all those years ago.

Oh, well. I'm not taking that thing back apart now. If I find a wet spot under the sink, I'll run a bead of silicone around the edge or something.

Saturday, 05 January 2008

For Christmas (actually a few days after, as the timing worked out) Joy went halvesies with me on a new stove.

The stove that came with this house wasn't exactly new when I moved in, going on 20 years ago, and it wasn't exactly top of the line when it was new. By this time, two of the burners weren't working, and the electric starters for the remaining ones were iffy (they often required the attentions of an Aim'N'Flame). The electric starter would light the oven, but it had to be activated by turning one of the burner knobs to "start" for a moment.

Repairing the old one wasn't really an option, as some of the bits that needed disassembling were thoroughly rusted together.

So, off to Western Appliance to pick out a new one: a Maytag with sealed burners, full-coverage grate, a large self-cleaning oven, and a top broiler; special purchase, $550. It's only 30" wide - the old one was 36" wide, and had a center griddle, which was a really nice feature, but I also got a Lodge cast-iron griddle/grill which should perform the same function with more even heat (since it straddles two burners). The only stove remotely in my price range with a decent center griddle is considerably more expensive, and virtually identical to the old one, old-style burners and all.

(Now I have a 6" gap, which seems to call for a 6" cabinet for storing cookie sheets and suchlike. That doesn't seem to be an off-the-shelf item; I looked in SigneticsPhilipsNXPLowe's a couple of days ago, and the narrowest kitchen cabinet segment they had was 9". Guess I need to do some home carpentry. Oh, and clean the accumulated grease off the old avocthulhu-green vent hood and repaint it to match either the new white stove or the old brown cabinets.)

Anyway: the earliest opportunity for delivery that I was sure would fit my schedule was today. The delivery guy was supposed to call the evening before to give me a 3-hour delivery window.

Yesterday evening, 6ish: phone call. Between 10 and 1 today.

This morning, 10:25: I hear a truck.

This morning, 10:40: delivery guys leave, having removed the old stove, installed the new one, set the clock, tested the burners, and helped me move the old futon back where it had been before we moved it aside so the stove could get through.

Oh, and the sales guy had no problem splitting the price across two credit cards. Western Appliance goes on the "would do business with again" list (except that I don't anticipate buying any more major appliances any time soon).

Later: So far, I've used the new stove to bake bread, boil crabs, and (with the new griddle) cook pancakes. Works fine.

I haven't tried any of the fancy features (time delay, etc.), but may get around to investigating them eventually.

One feature I'd like to see is an "incubate" setting. The lowest temperature setpoint for "bake" is 170°F; for "keep warm", 145°. I can understand the reason for not allowing cooler values of "warm" - maintaining food around body temperature encourages microbial infestations - but there are things that need to be kept at around 80-100° for extended periods. Such as, e.g., yeast (or sourdough) cultures destined to become bread. Oh, well. I can always continue doing what I've always done, which is to preheat the oven to the minimum permitted temperature, then let it cool down. Or, were I to get ambitious, build a carefully temperature- and humidity-regulated incubator in an ice chest. But then I'd need a place to put it....

Hm. Come to think of it, a heat/humidity control gizmo for an ice chest wouldn't take up much space, and, as long as it didn't require modifications to the ice chest, could just be stored inside the existing ice chest, which is already taking up space in my shed. For transporting drinks in summer, take out the incubator stuff and add ice; for incubating bread dough, skip the ice and thread the power/control cable through the drain opening. And yet another thing goes on my Project List.

Monday, 20 November 2006

It feels like I've managed to get my blood sugar down out of the lethargic range... and into the bouncing up and down, pointing at the leash, let's go walkies range.

This is still not conducive to getting desk work done, though it is conducive to burning off the remaining excess.

So: time to get ambitious in the living room! I cleared off the coffee table and disassembled it; now I need to make an OSH run for repair stuff (dowels and epoxy gel) and furniture polish.

Looking through the clutter that's accumulated under the table, I find all sorts of goodies!

Original August 1975 MOS Technology hardware & software manuals.

FM 3-15: Nuclear Accident Contamination Control. Great coffee-table book, that! What was it doing under the table?

A big binder of VHDL stuff from several years ago. Didn't the doctor say I needed to raise my VHDL level?

The March 1976 TIM manual.

Notes from the first Campfilk (Sunol, summer 1998). I need to organize another of those some year.

The Parrot Petition. (At the time of Baycon 1995, the Dead Lion management had apparently decided that mammals were the only acceptable pets, and Tinga had to go home. I circulated a petition. Management decided the policy had never existed.)

Saturday, 21 October 2006

I've decided to discombobulate, as recycle as scrap metal, the rusty old 6-foot-tall, 19" equipment rack that's dominated my patio since... well, since I moved here.

Once upon a time, it was in my bedroom (then in my apartment during my college days, then in my bedroom again), organizing my computer(s), stereo, and whatnot.

When I moved here, the stereo got its own nice wood-veneer cabinet, the computers went under my new desk, and the rack was banished to the patio, where it's seldom served any purpose.

It was a boring old rack of no significance, so letting it get rusty and then scrapping it isn't a crime against humanity like scrapping a classic battleship or something.

Anyway, I'd unbolted and unpinned most of the things that were bolted or pinned in place; this afternoon, it was time to start cutting up the long sections (sides and door).

Out to the shed; fetch grinder. Check.

Look in garage cupboard for orange extension cord. Uh....

Look in shed. Look all around garage floor, behind toolbox, ....

No orange extension cord. Fifty feet of orange air hose, but it's an electric grinder, so that's not much help.

Now, I figure one of three things happened:

I took all my extension cords to Humball, and never got around to retrieving them. Plausible, except that I'm pretty sure I used one within the last few months - like, the last time the Jeep's battery needed a little help.

Larry Warner's "tiny little elven sprites" have made it to California. Panic!

Yes, when all impossible explanations have been eliminated, the "Houseguests" explanation is one that remains. (My apologies to those who haven't heard the song; I think it may still be available on one CD or another.)

Anyway, not having time to chase down the pesky elveses, I went out and bought a replacement extension cord, thereby guaranteeing that when I put it away I'll find the three that I already had.

Using the grinder produced quite a shower of sparks - ouchouchouch! - and the occasional overload trip on the grinder (so now I've learned where the reset button is). But, the long pieces of the rack are now reduced to manageable length!

A little more disassembly, and it'll be time to move on to the next most conspicuous bit of worthless clutter out there....

Wednesday, 24 November 2004

Following up on the previous post....I spent the better part of two days decluttering the lab. Unfortunately, this being done in haste, it mostly entailed sweeping stuff under the rug. Now the rug has 30 cubic feet of clutter swept under it, and it's just a tad lumpy.For the past several years, the middle bedroom has been the Bluebeard room:And here's what had accumulated behind that always-closed door:Not very promising, eh? No wonder I'd been using the sewing table out in the living room as an electronics workbench.Well, things having gotten slow around the beginning of October, I started work on the great project of turning the storeroom back into a lab. By mid-October, I had enough space cleared that I could move the electronics stuff into the lab, and use the sewing table, once again, for sewing.The photo above is actually from mid-November, after I'd put in more shelving, added some more test equipment (spectrum analyzer, bench multimeter, etc.), and actually gotten some work done in there. This is about where things still stood Monday morning, when I got the call to make things look nice for a photoshoot.Here's the lab today:No, your eyes don't deceive you, that's a gen-yoo-wine 1964-vintage HP multimeter winking its Nixies up there. Last calibrated in 1975, though I believe it was in service for quite some time after that calibration expired in February, 1976. It's not actually in use now, but it makes a nifty lab ornament, almost up there with a big honkin' wall-mounted ammeter. (A Jacob's ladder in the lab would probably not be in compliance with current ESD guidelines.)Floor space! Look at that floor space!

Monday, 22 November 2004

Long ago, in Part 1, I got my home office into some semblance of officeness, clearing away much of the clutter that had accumulated over the years.Since then, I've been working on the lab / storeroom / Bluebeard room. By mid-October, I had enough space cleared that I could move my electronics work off the sewing table, in time for Halloween. I've gradually been clearing more space, adding shelves, adding test equipment, and so on. Some of the larger clutter is meant to go to the new quarters of the startup company of which I'm a part, once we actually start moving in (which should be later this week).Well, this afternoon there was a mission change. Last week, Fearless Leader went to a conference, and talked to various people, including a newspaper reporter. Now the reporter wants to interview him - and wants to get a photo, in his office. Oops. We don't have the office yet (should have the conference room set up in another week or so). He has a garage, and a living room. And the Starbucks where we've been holding the weekly company meeting. Happy thought: get the whole gang over here for a group photo in my lab. This means I need to clear the rest of the clutter out, and make it look respectable, by Wednesday morning.It's been a busy afternoon. I've cleared out about half the remaining clutter, including most of the big stuff (the other big items are shoved under a table, looking like they belong there). Mopped the furthest back part of the floor for the first time in, um, ever.Since I haven't bulldozed the living room yet, and the front yard looks like it's been hit by fall (and generally not tended much even during the summer), we may have to blindfold the newspaper folks for the journey back to the lab.Back to work now....

Monday, 16 August 2004

Before commencing with the main subject of this post, I suppose I should answer the obvious question:What's a Silicon Valley redneck, anyway?
Well. I'm glad I asked me that question.
It refers the the decor in my living room.
You know how the stereotypical redneck's front yard contains at least three non-running cars, up on blocks? Well, my living room usually contains several non-running computers, up on blocks.
I may elaborate on the concept later.
Anyway, I made some progress yesterday on the 10-year backlog of house-tidying. The living room still requires the gentle application of a bulldozer, but I did some de-cluttering in the office.
Here's the "before" picture, showing the mess on the side table - today's target. Those two overstuffed bookcases are part of a set I've had since I was a little kid.
To work! The first task is to clear off the piles of clutter from the table, then the books from the bookcases. I pile it all on my bed, thereby setting a deadline for finishing the project.
Next, remove the ancient bookcases. One gets stacked atop another member of the same set (off to the left of the photo). The other will get stacked atop another bookcase in the lab - as I convert the lab back from the storeroom it's become over the years. That's another day's project. Actually, another several days....
Now that things are accessible, cover the wall with shelf rails and brackets, add shelving, and slap another two shelves on the ends. Voila!
Perfect! Lacking only a Jennifer O'Meara print... which calls for a trip to the frame shop.
The little space up top can hold things like a WiFi access point and maybe a mascot or two.
It certainly feels different! Walking in now, I hardly recognize the place. I guess I should find a proper home for that pile of swords and whatnot - they'd been blocking access to the filing cabinet. Also, there's that big heap of photos atop the filing cabinet; they should go somewhere.
There's much more yet to be done, but at least there's one large task checked off the list.

Updated:
There's the print - this library is guarded by the bookwyrm. Also by Lesser Cthulhu. (Pikathulhu and Mr. Naughty Seabird are too tall for that space up top, and will have to find other homes.)